


Christmas Eve

by Murf1307



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Christmas, F/M, M/M, Meet the Family, Mistletoe, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-02
Updated: 2013-04-02
Packaged: 2017-12-07 07:21:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/745830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Murf1307/pseuds/Murf1307
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Ghostfacers are invited to Christmas at Corbett's parents' house.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Christmas Eve

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place in an AU where Corbett didn't die and eventually decides to go to grad school in California. The Ghostfacers follow him out there (Maggie's idea, because Ed becomes absolutely insufferable without Corbett and refuses to admit to it) and they all wind up sharing an apartment.

“So, um, these are the Ghostfacers,” Corbett introduces, gesturing vaguely.

Mrs Corbett smiles widely.  “Of course, my dear.  I spoke with Maggie about the move-in, remember?  And this may come as a shock to you, but I  _do_  have a Facebook.”

Corbett looks mildly horrified.  Ed sidles over toward him, not sure exactly what he could do, but wanting to, anyway.

“Come on in,” Mrs Corbett says, stepping back from the door.  As they do, she turns and calls to the interior of the house, “George!  Alan and his friends are here.” 

 

Mr Corbett pops his head in from one of the several doorways on the foyer, then comes to greet them.  Seeing the two of them together, Ed is pretty sure he knows where Corbett’s good looks came from — he has his mother’s soft eyes and his father’s build (though Mr Corbett had, uh, filled out a little with the years) — and he finds himself a little intimidated.

They’d all known that Corbett came from money — they practically lived rent-free in that apartment, financed by Corbett’s parents — but between the subtle elegance and the way they’re so well dressed and put-together, it’s sort of thrown in Ed’s face how far out of his league Corbett really is.

Ed reacts to this unintentional intimidation the way he always does, by puffing up and faking confidence.  “I’m Ed,” he introduces himself, sticking out a hand to shake Mr Corbett’s.

“Oh, of course,” Mr Corbett responds, shaking enthusiastically.

“It’s so rare that Alan makes such loyal friends,” Mrs Corbett says, smiling as she pulls Ed into a gentle, unfailingly polite hug.

Corbett shifts uncomfortably.

“I can’t imagine why,” Ed says, raising an eyebrow at the little comment.

“Neither can we, unfortunately,” Mr Corbett says, then turns to the others for their introductions. 

Things go pretty smoothly from there, and they proceed into what was obviously a living room.  It is, however, full of Corbett’s relatives.  There are about fifteen of them, clumped on chairs and couches, and this is probably more than Ed had signed up for.

He can deal with clients, with people who expect him to talk about nothing but ghosts, or with other geeks, but he has no idea what to expect here.  He doesn’t even know how he’s going to be introduced.

And he really, desperately wants to make a good first impression with these people, even just as Corbett’s friend.

“Alan!” one of the younger women of the bunch exclaims when she sees Corbett.  “Welcome home!  How’s California?  Kissed any movie stars?”

Corbett laughs, tension draining out of him.  “Nah, Kate.  Zachary Quinto is still unavailable.”

That seems to be an inside joke, because the girl — Kate — laughs uproariously and rises to hug Corbett.  She notices Ed at this point, even though he’s doing his best to blend in with the tastefully-decorated wall. 

She looks him up and down, and he’s pretty sure she’s checking him out.  It’s…weird.  She looks like she could be Corbett’s twin sister, and Ed briefly imagines kissing her.

He doesn’t like the idea.

“Now, who is this?” she asks, eyes sparkling.

“Uh, this is Ed.  He’s one of my roommates.”  Corbett smiles at him, almost reassuringly.  “Him, and his sister, his best friend, and another friend.  It’s a pretty great arrangement, actually.”

“You always hated living alone, after all,” Mrs Corbett cuts in, hugging her son briefly and kissing his cheek.

Corbett nods, and introduces everyone else to the room.  He doesn’t mention anything about the Ghostfacers as a thing, but he doesn’t seem to be  _hiding_  it, either, which is good.  Really good, actually.

Ed winds up in conversation with a cousin, a guy named Rene.  Rene has a pierced nose, but he’s not wearing a nose ring — probably took it out as a courtesy on Christmas, since Ed can see the edges of sleeve tattoos under that sweater he’s wearing. 

“So, you’re in the Industry?” Rene asks him, all earnest curiosity.

“Yeah, uh, production assistantship jobs, mostly.”  He decides to go for it.  “We did a webseries, the five of us.  Capitalizing on the popularity of stuff like  _Paranormal State,_  y’know?”  He doesn’t mention that he’s seen it all, knows that ghosts are real, because, well, that’d be too much.

Rene nods, and actually looks interested.  “What’s it called?  My ex has some connections — she could probably hook you up.”

“ _Ghostfacers,_ ” he says.

“I’ll definitely google you guys, then.  Sounds like my kind of shit, honestly.”  Rene smiles, and shit, that’s Corbett’s smile.

Ed’s going to be dealing with a lot of this tonight, he figures, so he just smiles back.  “Thanks.  We need all the exposure we can get, if we want to make something of this.  Had a few setbacks the first time we tried to do a pilot, but we’ve got some good footage these days.”

Rene nods.  “I totally get it.  I’m a musician.  The entertainment industry’s a real bitch.”

“Language, Rene,” an older woman chastises.  “This isn’t a bar.”

“I know, Gran,” Rene responds, rolling his eyes.  “But a habit’s one that’s hard to break.  How’s the smoking coming along?”

His voice is pure venom, and the woman recoils, grumbling.

Corbett interjects, then, sliding into the conversation with a grace that Ed’s not used to seeing from him.  “Both of you, be civil.  It’s Christmas, but we all remember what happened to Larry and Aunt Magda.”

Both of Corbett’s relatives shudder.  “Your mom is scary when she’s mad,” Rene says.

“Trust me, I know.”  Then he turns to Ed.  “So, um, things are okay?”

Ed nods, smiling.  “Yeah.  Things are okay.  Rene says he’s gonna try and hook us up with an ex of his about the webseries.”

“Oh, great.”  Corbett smiles brightly.  “That would be awesome.”

Ed’s not sure what to say next.  He doesn’t want Corbett to drift away again, conversation-hopping like he was born to do it, but he doesn’t know how to make that happen.  “So, uh,” he manages.  “You introduced us to the group, but I’m pretty lost as to who all your relatives are.”

Corbett flushes.  “Yeah, sorry about that.  You’ve met Rene, he’s my cousin, and Gran — she’s, y’know, my grandmother.  Kate’s my cousin — different aunt and uncle than Rene though, Rene’s an only child, Kate’s got an older sister.”  He gestures vaguely, looking around the room and searching out another woman who looks like Kate.  He points her out.  “Her name’s Anne.  Anne brought her boyfriend, Charlie, he’s the brunet on her arm, I’m pretty sure they’re going to wind up married by about 2014…”

Ed listens as best he can, but he gets distracted by the way Corbett gets so animated when he talks about his family.  When he laughs about his twin maiden aunts, Maddy and Magda (who only recently was allowed to come to family functions after an incident with Kate’s ex), Ed has to remind himself to breathe.

He’s not sure he’s ever seen Corbett this comfortable.  At home, he’s much more soft-spoken, and with people they don’t know, he’s shy.

Ed wants to see more of this side of Corbett.  He nods and smiles at all the right moments, but he just wants to sit here and listen to Corbett talk about his family.

“You’re monopolizing, Alan,” Mrs Corbett cuts in.  “I’m sure some of your cousins would love to tell Ed here their own life stories.”

“Oh, uh, right,” Corbett mumbles, turning inward again.

And it’s not like Ed can object, because he doesn’t want to come off as an antisocial asshole to Corbett’s  _mom_ , of all people.  Not now, not with his first impression still at stake.

“I’ll, uh,” Ed manages.  “You mentioned your cousin Louis is a camera man up in Vancouver, right?”

Corbett nods, looking a little surprised that Ed caught all of that, and Ed allows himself a swell of pride.  He’s got this.  He just needs to get up and walk over to Cousin Lou — he’s the one in the truly tragic reindeer sweater, with the salt-and-pepper hair at his temples — and pretend he’s totally not socially awkward.

He can handle it.  He totally can.

 —

 

Three hours and one brilliant Christmas dinner later, Ed’s pretty sure he’s going to explode, and it isn’t from the smoked ham and sausage stuffing.

 Mrs Corbett had sat him next to Corbett — which was totally okay with him, until he started noticing the looks.  He’d be just carrying on a conversation, easily interjecting here and there when Corbett recounted one haunted-house story or another, and all of a sudden, he realizes that some cousin is looking at him, measuring him.

It’s not like how Kate checked him out before, either.  That, he can handle.  This is like…like they’re judging him for some other, nefarious purpose. 

Now, Corbett gets up to help his mother with dessert, and the rest of the long table splits up, too.  Ed takes the opportunity to excuse himself to hide in the bathroom and think very, very hard about his own behavior here tonight.  He thinks, and thinks, and assures himself that he hasn’t done anything to warrant him blacklisted from further inclusion, so he returns to the group…

And nearly knocks Corbett off his feet. 

Well, he actually does.  They wind up in a tangled heap of limbs, Ed mostly on top of him and their faces entirely too close to each other for comfort. 

There’s a spellbinding moment of uncertainty where Ed’s not sure if he’s going to lean in and kiss Corbett, but it passes and he stands up entirely too fast.  “Uh, um, holy shit, I’m so sorry,” he mumbles, reaching down to pull Corbett up as well, brushing imagined dust off the front of his sweatervest in a nervous gesture.  “I should’ve been paying attention, Jesus, I really made a fool of myself, didn’t I?”

Corbett looks a little confused, a little scared, and Ed almost kicks himself.

Someone interrupts, though, with a “Hey, boys, look up!”

Ed looks up, and his mouth goes dry as he wonders when he stumbled into a fucking romcom.  There’s mistletoe hanging from the doorway they’re standing in, and Corbett’s still standing too close, and Ed might actually expire from embarrassment.

Though it looks like Corbett might beat him to it, if the cherry-red flush on his face is anything to go by; he’s looking anywhere but at Ed.

God, this is awkward.

“Oh, come on,” Kate sing-songs.  “It’s the spirit of the season!”

Maggie starts laughing, and Ed doesn’t care that she’s his sister, he’s going to shoot her in the face in a minute because this is  _not okay_.

“Alan?” Mrs Corbett calls from the kitchen.  “I need you to carry the pudding into the dining — oh.”

Shit.  Shitshitshit.

Ed makes an executive decision and grabs Corbett’s face.  He kisses him, short and hard — different from how he’s always wanted to, but it’s a kiss anyway.

Then he swings Corbett around and gives him a little push towards his mother, whispering, “Sorry” into his ear as he goes by.  Corbett moves like he’s been kissed senseless, and Ed isn’t sure whether to be afraid or hopeful about that.

As soon as Corbett’s out of the room, someone whistles.  Ed whips around in an instant, snarl pulling at the sides of his mouth.

Because he’s figured it out now, what the measuring looks over dinner were about: Corbett’s whole family thinks that he and Corbett either are already a thing, or are well on their way to becoming a thing.  He’s figured it out, and frankly, it feels like they’re throwing it in his face that they  _aren’t_  a thing, and that Ed knows well enough that Corbett is out.  of.  his.  league.

Maybe they don’t mean to, but they’re still doing it, and it pisses Ed off.

They’re all smirking, from Kate to Rene, and Ed glares at all of them like he wants nothing more than to take their heads off.

“Just because he’s gay doesn’t mean he’s into me,” he tries to growl, but it probably comes out way more petulant than that as he whips around, shoves his hands in his pockets, and walks out.

If he were clear-headed, he would probably be appalled at his own behavior.  Maggie’s going to kill him.

But he doesn’t care right now, just like he doesn’t care that it’s fucking freezing and he doesn’t have his coat with him, because he just got totally embarrassed and probably broadcast to everyone at the party that he  _wished_  he had a shot with Corbett.

Because why would he?  He’s hopelessly geeky, can hardly handle non-work-related interpersonal interactions, and it’s not like he’s actually  _attractive_  or anything.

Nothing like the guys he’s seen checking out Corbett at bars back home in L.A., especially.

He walks down the street, trying to metaphorically cool his head.  It’s supposed to snow tonight, supposed to be a white Christmas this year around here, so it’s slowly getting darker and colder, clouds passing over the stars and the moon.

“Ed!” he hears, and turns.

It’s Corbett, running toward him, looking upset.

Shit.  He hadn’t even thought about  _Corbett’s_ reaction to the whole thing, from the kiss to Ed’s outburst, and now he’s going to have to deal with it, and he’s not ready.

Corbett slows to a stop in front of him, and he’s not wearing a coat either.

“Are you okay?” he asks, and Ed is basically struck dumb.  Of course Corbett would think of anyone else before himself — it’s one of the multitude of reasons Ed has fallen in love with him.

“No,” he admits, because it’s probably now or never, and he isn’t going to lie about it.

Corbett shifts, and Ed wonders if the flush on his face is from the cold, or exertion, or something entirely different.  He looks Ed in the eye briefly before dropping his gaze and saying, “So.  Um.  You kissed me.”

“Yeah,” Ed replies, because it’s true.  “Was that — was that a bad idea?”

“I don’t know.  Was it?”  Corbett looks a little freaked, but Ed’s not sure if he sees a little bit of hopefulness underneath.  “I mean, did you want to.”

Ed swallows.   _Come on_ , a voice in his head (that sounds suspiciously like Maggie) urges,  _You’re supposed to be the brave one, now untwist your Starfleet undies and say it._   “Yeah.  I — um.  I did.  Not like that though.  But kissing is a thing.  A thing I wanted to do.  With you.”

God that sounded dumb.

“Do you, um.  Want to do it again?” Corbett mumbles, looking anywhere but at Ed.

Ed short-circuits for a moment, then manages, “Is that — is that an invitation?”

Corbett bites his lip and  _nods_ , and that’s all the encouragement Ed needs.  He takes another step forward, brings himself into Corbett’s space, and reaches out to cup Corbett’s face with one hand.  He gives Corbett plenty of time to pull away, to change his mind, and when he doesn’t, he leans in and kisses him.

This time, he’s gentle about it, slipping his hand into Corbett’s hair and moving his lips slowly over his.

He pulls back just as gently.  “Was that okay?”

“Yeah,” Corbett murmurs.  “That was — that was good.  I — I’ve wanted that for a while now.”

“Me too,” Ed replies.  “It’s kind if, um, embarrassing how long I’ve wanted to do that, actually.”  He moves his hand down to take one of Corbett’s, gently threading their fingers together.

Corbett makes this surprised little noise.

“Is this okay?” Ed asks.

“Y-yeah.”  As if to punctuate the statement, Corbett squeezes Ed’s hand.  He moves a little closer and shivers.

Ed almost automatically pulls him closer, slipping an arm around his waist.  Corbett makes another little noise, but it sounds pleased as well as surprised this time, so Ed figures he’s fine.  “So, um,” he asks, “is this a thing?  Are we…are we a thing?”

“Do you want us to be a thing?” Corbett asks.

“Fuck yes,” Ed admits emphatically, then blushes bright red.  He’d been trying to play it down.  Looks like he’s boned on that account.

Corbett chuckles, and pulls Ed closer himself.  “That’s good.  So it’s agreed.  We’re a thing.”

“Yeah,” Ed says, smiling, and he leans in to kiss Corbett again, just because he can do that now, and he’s going to be doing it as often as he can for as long as he can.

Corbett smiles into the kiss, and when they break for air, he looks a little sly.

“What are you thinking?” Ed asks.

“I’m thinking we should skip dessert and, um, go do something.”  Corbett blushes hard, but they’re grown men — they should be able to go straight from establishing thing-ness to doing thing-related…thing-adjacent  _things_.

But Ed feels bad for storming out of the party like that.  “I need to apologize to your mom, at least…”

“Tomorrow.  She…I think she knew this was going to happen,” Corbett murmurs.  “Just, I — I want to go somewhere with you, you know?”

“Okay,” Ed says, and leads him to the car.

They don’t have coats, but they get the car warm pretty quickly, and then they’re off into the night.  They find a late-night diner that open, and Corbett gets chocolate cake that Ed shamelessly steals half of, and Ed gets a milkshake that he insists on sharing with Corbett.

Then they find their way back to the hotel, and they laugh like teenagers as they make out in the elevator, and Ed’s high on the feeling as he leads Corbett back to his room.

Afterwards, when they’re tangled up in the sheets and each other, and they’re about to fall asleep, Ed’s cell-phone rings.

It’s Maggie, wishing them a Merry Christmas, and Harry, bitching them out about the car.

Corbett laughs, and tells them to catch a taxi, “we’ll pay for it.”  Ed likes the sound of that “we,” even though he doesn’t want to spend money on Harry and Maggie’s cab fare, so he only grumbles a little about it, tightening his arms around Corbett when the call ends.

They’ll have to deal with the fallout in the morning, but when Corbett glances over to the clock to see the date’s turned over and whispers, “Merry Christmas,” Ed has to agree.

It is a very merry Christmas indeed.


End file.
